Candle flames burned slowly along the walls. Every candle here was a precious Moon Candle, whose light could suppress and purify Pollution wherever it shone, yet here they were used only for illumination.
Bookshelves stood densely on both sides. The candlelight could barely illuminate the names on the spines, but any finer details were nothing but a blur. Reality here was unstable; like the lofty dome overhead, it had only a rough silhouette.
This was the Forbidden Library.
Beatrice was swiftly weaving through the endless rows of bookshelves. She should not have been allowed here, but she had forced her way in under the Pope's authority.
The gatekeepers did not stop her too much and simply allowed her inside.
Beatrice was an Investigator. She could sense eyes watching her from the shadows, ready to act should she do anything out of line. Perhaps they wished to placate her, or perhaps visiting the Forbidden Library would not cause too much trouble. In any case, they had tacitly permitted it.
Beatrice felt her heart pounding. The moment she stepped into this room, she knew she had won her gamble.
Since the Candlelight Society had placed the triple crown symbolizing the Pope upon her head, it was bound to cede her some authority, however slight.
The Forbidden Library was the core of the Holy See's core. The Candlelight Society's doctrine was to collect secret lore, safeguard secret lore, bury history, and seal away the past.
This was the carefully chosen graveyard of the Candlelight Society, where countless pieces of knowledge tainted with Pollution were sealed away, never to be deciphered again.
Even as Pope, Beatrice had no right to leak the books and knowledge within. The most rigorous protective inscriptions were here, inscriptions that even the present-day Candlelight Society could no longer reproduce.